Borger Is Guilty Of First-degree Murder, Jury Says

December 05, 1991|by DEBBIE GARLICKI, The Morning Call

A Lehigh County jury last night convicted Alan Dale Borger of first-degree murder for killing his stepmother's brother less than a week after the victim took Borger in upon his parole from state prison.

Jurors, who returned the verdict at 10:50 p.m., were sent home to rest before hearing testimony today to decide whether Borger gets life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Robert Kramer, who had been friends with Hill since they were teen-agers, said, "I'm happy, but it won't bring him back.

"You had to know him. Sammy was great. He'd do anything for anybody. He was a hell of a guy."

Brenda Haas, another friend of Hill and a witness in the trial, said, "I'm so happy. I think he deserved it. I've been waiting for this day for a year."

The jury started deliberations about noon, with breaks for lunch and dinner. Hill's friends and relatives, who sat through nine days of the trial, waited anxiously throughout the day.

"I was scared," Brenda Haas said. "I didn't know which way it was gonna go."

"We all were," Paul Haas, another friend, added.

Hill's family members and friends shook hands with the prosecuting attorney, Michael McIntyre. Allentown detectives Dwight Steidel and Victor Markowitz smiled. They, too, expressed relief at the outcome of a long police investigation, a week and a half of jury selection and a lengthy trial.

Assistant Public Defenders Karen Schular and Earl Supplee were dejected, facing the task of trying to convince 12 people to spare Borger's life.

Police alleged that Borger hit Hill several times on the head in Hill's house at 833 Lawrence St., Salisbury Township, wrapped the body in a tent from Hill's cellar and tried to hide it with bedding and debris in an illegal dump along Constitution Drive in Allentown.

The body was partially decomposed when it was found Oct. 20, 1990, six days after police believe the murder occurred.

Hill had allowed Borger to live with him after Borger was released from Rockview State Prison on Oct. 10, 1990. He had served eight years there and at other institutions for several burglaries and an escape from a county jail.

Prosecutors didn't present a concrete motive, but speculated that Hill may have been upset with Borger not living by his house rules and Borger killed Hill because he feared going back to prison if he didn't have a place to live.

After the verdict was read, McIntyre told Judge James N. Diefenderfer he intends to argue to the jury that an aggravating circumstance -- Borger's previous felonies and acts of violence -- warrant the death penalty.

Schular and Supplee told the judge they might need time to get videotaped testimony of one of the victims of the burglaries who is in a wheelchair. Supplee argued that although Borger committed burglaries, the residents weren't home at the time, and so the crimes weren't violence toward people. That can be considered as a mitigating circumstance, Supplee said.

"Now, we're talking about a man's life, your honor," Schular said.

Late yesterday afternoon, jurors interrupted deliberations to ask the court to replay two taped statements Borger made to police. They later wanted the judge to reread legal definitions of first- and third-degree murder.

When they went back into the jury room, McIntyre explained what was happening to Hill's friends and family.

"If they are talking about first or third, they have already established that he's the killer," he said. "I think we'll have a verdict by 11."

Minutes later, the jury foreman informed the court they had reached a verdict.